


Persona of Interest

by Wild_Cat_214



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-10 14:45:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6989764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wild_Cat_214/pseuds/Wild_Cat_214
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shen slept through the past hundred years in a crystal, unknowingly waiting for someone to get her out so she could find the Avatar and take up her destiny as the Persona. She just never expected it to be two members of the Fire Nation royal family. Now, with more at stake than ever, it's up to her, Aang, and their other friends to save the world, before everything goes up in flames.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Persona Blues

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I'm pretty sure I have ADD/ADHD, since I keep coming up with new ideas for stories that I want to write, even though I have, like, fifty other stories that I still need to FINISH! Curse you, brain!
> 
> This story should not be confused with the Persona series. The only things they have in common (so far as I know) are the use of Persona and that they have fandoms. You have been warned. If I do use anything that also occurs in any of the Persona games, I apologize in advance and assure you that it is not intentional.
> 
> But anyways, this idea came to me, I began writing, and it just began to come together. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA. I just come up with ideas and write stories off of them. Anything canon is not mine, and anything original is probably mine. Probably.

_Water..._

_Earth..._

_Fire..._

_Air..._

_My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar and the Persona kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked._

_Only the Avatar mastered all four elements, and only the Persona mastered all four Chis. Only they could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed them most, they vanished._

_A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation – and to search for the Persona, reborn into that nation – leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe._

_Some believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, that the Persona was never reborn into the Earth Kingdom, and that the cycles are broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that the Avatar and the Persona will return to save the world._

* * *

Shen wasn't entirely sure how long she had been asleep. All she knew for sure was that she most certainly had not fallen into slumber's sweet embrace chained up in a dingy cell, her ankles attached to each other by only two feet of chain and her wrists linked to the wall by about four feet, and lying on an old cot. A quick glance down told her that someone had at least bothered to put a worn – but warm – blanket over her, and a cushion under her head. A flickering torch was her only light, yet it showed her plenty. Her cell was made of battered metal with a wheel on the door, about six feet from the wall she was against.

'Am I on a ship?' the young woman mused, hearing the faint crash of waves against something hollow, metal, and very near. Shen sat up warily, still woozy with sleep, and tested her bonds. They were old, yes, but strong. Strange. She didn't remember doing anything bad enough to warrant being locked up. Actually, she couldn't remember much of anything right now, beyond the fuzzy memory that Master Taka had told her to remain calm and stay still, just before his hands glowed pastel green.

Imperious footsteps echoed towards her door, making the metal ring under their furious onslaught and distracting her from that troubling thought. The young woman used her manacled hands to pull the blanket back up from where it had pooled around her waist, though the show of modesty was not necessary. She still wore the clothing Chi Mistress Raph had made for her, and it covered her body quite well.

When the footsteps stopped outside her door, Shen clenched her jaw resolutely. Whoever this guy was, he was getting nothing out of her until she knew why she was locked up.

The wheel spun slowly and the door fell open, revealing a young man with his head shaved, except for a long ponytail high in the back, and a huge burn scar over the left side of his face. She knew it was rude to stare, but Shen couldn't help but gawk at him in shock, albeit with only her eyes. How had he even gotten that scar?

“So, you've finally awaken, Persona? It's about time. Where is the Avatar?” the young man began aggressively. The young woman he was questioning glared back, remaining silent. Now she wasn't just going to wait for the reason behind her imprisonment. She was going to keep her mouth shut until this guy treated her with respect.

“I said, where is he?!”

Shen had to stifle the sudden laughter that rose up. Wow. Talk about a hot temper. Although, going by his clothes, he _was_ Fire Nation.

That actually explained a few things.

“I know you can find him. The Avatar and the Persona have a special connection. If I have to, I will force you to tell me where he is,” the scarred man threatened angrily. Her eyes narrowed. Okay, personal resolves and good manners aside, the Chi Masters had told her to stand up for herself. This sort of thing just couldn't be taken in silence.

“Try it, Hot Shot, and you'll beg for mercy when I'm through with you,” Shen drawled back, keeping her voice soft and pleasant. The two of them glared at each other, ignoring the two guards that peeked in briefly, and then Hot Shot grunted in displeasure, turned on his heel, and left, letting the door swing shut in his wake. For the first time since she woke up, the young woman allowed herself a small smirk and a feeling of triumph.

Shen, 1. Hot Shot, 0.

* * *

Zuko glared at everything and everyone as he went back to the bridge, where his uncle was playing Pai Sho against one of the members of the crew. Iroh placed a tile down, seemingly not noticing the nervous look that formed on his opponent's face, and smiled up at his nephew.

“How did it go?” he asked conversationally. A scowl was his answer, making the former Fire Nation sigh in disappointment.

“Uncle, it was like talking to a wall. Except you'd get more out of a wall than that girl,” Zuko protested heatedly. Iroh shook his head.

“Perhaps you should try asking her more politely, Prince Zuko. Young women prefer to be treated like ladies, not prisoners,” the old man chided gently. The young Fire Nation prince snorted and raised an eyebrow in skeptical reply.

“She didn't seem very ladylike when she threatened me,” he snapped petulantly. Iroh chuckled.

“Was this before or after _you_ threatened _her_?”

Silence from the scarred prince, followed by an embarrassed, “...After.”

“Then she was as polite to you as you were to her. Now, since I'm sure poor Chiro here has realized that I have won this game, I'm going to bring her some tea,” his uncle announced, much to the flustered crewman's chagrin. Zuko looked at him in shock.

“But, Uncle, she's a prisoner! We don't give prisoners tea!” he exclaimed in outrage. Iroh raised an eyebrow.

“Prince Zuko, you should be ashamed. She is our guest, and the Persona, at that. We must treat her as such,” he scolded sternly, just before he went down to the kitchen and began preparing the tea that had offended his nephew so.

* * *

Shen was trying to make her Chi build up faster so she could cut her chains and escape when the door opened again, revealing a different man. This one was old and portly, with a kind smile on his face and a tray loaded with a pot of steaming tea and some small cookies in his wrinkled hands. She eyed him warily, wondering if this was supposed to be like the good-mentor, bad-mentor routine the Chi Masters had used whenever she got in trouble. Hot Shot was the bad-mentor, and this guy was the good-mentor.

“Please excuse the intrusion,” the old man said apologetically as he came inside. Shen dipped her head in acknowledgment and watched him curiously as the old man set the tray bearing the tea and food down. He began pouring out two small, elegant cups of the hot liquid, then handed one to her. He didn't let go until it was firmly in her hands, and when she cautiously lifted the cup to her mouth, the old man smiled kindly.

“Don't worry, it's not poisoned. See?” He took a sip of his own tea to prove it. “Perfectly safe. And perfectly brewed, I think you'll find.”

Shen sniffed the beverage in her hands, savoring the smell of jasmine tea, and sipped it slowly. The tea _was_ perfectly brewed, she realized, and before she could stop herself, the young woman smiled and murmured her thanks.

“Ah, you _are_ a lady. I apologize for my nephew's rudeness earlier. He can be quite fixated on his goal,” the old man said with a wry smile. Shen smirked.

“Hot Shot is your nephew? I hardly see the resemblance,” she replied drily. When her head finished processing what she had just let slip, the young Persona blanched and hung her head to try and hide the blush spreading across her cheeks. Oh, spirits! She had just mouthed off, not only about someone she just met, but to a complete stranger! What would her father say?

The laughter of the old man drew her back form her panicked thoughts and made her look back at him. His amber eyes twinkled with mirth as he regarded her.

“Ah, yes, Prince Zuko and I are very different. But deep inside, he has a good heart... though at times it seems deeper than I thought,” he joked affectionately. Shen silently scoffed, but also began worrying again. That rude jerk was a prince? Spirits she had threatened a prince! Never mind the fact that she was technically his equal, being the Persona and all. She had threatened a PRINCE!

“Is that so? I will just have to take your word for it, Master...” Shen trailed off. She was pretty sure this guy hadn't introduced himself, and it would be rude of her to ask his name now. That's what her father and Master Quan, the Chi Master in charge of teaching etiquette, had drilled into her. You let the elder participant in a conversation introduce themselves first.

“Ah, my apologies. My name is Iroh. What is yours?” The young woman bowed slightly from her seated position to Iroh.

“I am Persona Shen Nanjing. It is very nice to meet you, Master Iroh,” she replied politely, using the words her father, Zhu Nanjing, and Master Quan had told her to introduce herself with. He chuckled.

“Please, just call me Iroh,” he said cheerfully. She nodded and smiled back. There was something about this old man that she liked, a kind, trustworthy feeling that reminded her of Master Taka. Maybe they could be friends.

Maybe he could tell her just why Hot Shot had imprisoned her.

* * *

When Iroh came back out, his nephew was waiting up on the deck. The southern coast of the Earth Kingdom mainland was to the ship's right, and smooth blue water surrounded them.

“Well? What did you get out of her?” he demanded of the older man. His uncle cast a glance skyward before addressing the young prince.

“I learned her name is Shen, that she likes mint tea and strawberries, and that she is a very polite, respectful young woman, if a bit cold... at least, until she gets used to someone. Then she is quite friendly and open,” Iroh replied bluntly. Zuko glared at him. “That's not what I meant. Does she know where the Avatar is?”

His uncle shrugged. “I didn't ask. I was more interested in learning about our guest. Apparently, she also likes singing, though she claims to not be very good at it. We might just need to get her to join us for music night.”

The young prince groaned in exasperation. This was not what he wanted to know! He didn't care about what the Persona liked or disliked, or what she did, or even what her name was. He wanted to know the Avatar's hiding place!

“Uncle, the Persona could be my first clue to finding the Avatar since I was banished! We don't have time to waste on making friends with her!” he shouted irately. Iroh sighed, shaking his head slowly.

“Prince Zuko, you could at least try to be more polite next time. Knowledge is more easily obtained when it is freely given.” Zuko sighed with irritation and confusion. Spirits, sometimes his uncle made absolutely no sense.

But he needed to find the Avatar, and if being polite would help with that, well, he would try.

* * *

The next week was spent with Zuko trying (and failing) to be polite to Shen, the young woman in question countering with veiled threats and soft barbs, and Iroh trying to get them to at least be civil to one another.

Shen learned that Zuko and Iroh, along with two of the ship's crew, had discovered her in a cave not too far from the Earth Kingdom's Chi Temple, sealed within a huge, glowing, green crystal. They had also found her immense sword, and when she heard that it had taken the combined efforts of both crewmen and a certain prince, the young woman had laughed. The blade was about a foot wide, two inches thick, and five feet long, with four holes running from the handle up the blade. She asked them how long they thought she had been sleeping, though none answered her, and she was left with more than a few questions, although Iroh _did_ give her a chunk of the crystal she had been inside as a sort of souvenir, claiming he had a few more, so he could spare one for her.

Iroh learned that Shen was a decent Pai Sho player, winning half her games and losing half, and that she wasn't a sore loser. She also revealed to him, when he asked about why she had blue eyes, black hair, and tan skin, that her father had been the wealthy Earth Kingdom nobleman Zhu Nanjing, while her mother had been a woman from the Northern Water Tribe named Yatta. Her black tattoos were the proof that she had completed the Spirit Cloister of the Chi Temple where she had lived: two on her face, in the form of two slashing marks on each side that met at one tip; angular, swirling flowers with dots on the backs of her hands; vines that stretched up her neck to her jawline and ran down her back to her legs, where they twined around her legs and ended in spearheads-- and, she told him privately, so did the green crystal with the Earth Kingdom's emblem hovering inside it embedded in one of the four holes in her sword's blade. He also learned that she was about fourteen years old, and that she had very few memories of the time before she was sealed within the crystal.

Zuko learned that Shen could be quite stubborn, and that being polite to her was a lot harder for him than it seemed to be for his uncle. He also learned that she would quite willingly ignore him when he ordered her back to her cell, and it was usually only with some serious manhandling (though nothing too outrageous) that the young woman would return to the small room she slept in. Zuko was mostly suspicious as to why she didn't use any of the chibending the Persona was supposed to be a master of, but he was also thankful she didn't. The last thing he needed was for word to get back to his father that the Persona herself had defeated him and his crew while he was trying to get the Avatar's whereabouts from her.

At the end of that week, Zuko and Iroh woke up to find that Shen had escaped with her sword, leaving only a note saying that she refused to help Zuko reclaim his honor at the cost of her partner, and that she would miss Iroh while she was away, and the cleanly sliced remnants of her bonds. The script was elegant, as befitted a young lady, and was signed with just her given name. There was no clue as to where she would go, or to where the Avatar was.

* * *

Shen panted as she rode on Mika's back through the Spirit World, still getting used to the feeling of using Chi again. From what she had overheard of the crew and of Iroh and Zuko's conversations, she had supposedly been missing for a hundred years, just like her partner. That couldn't be right. She didn't _feel_ a hundred and fourteen. Yet, something told her it had to be true. Why else would two of the men have been talking about a war that had been mere rumor when she fell asleep?

The huge, light blue bird she was riding at the moment suddenly stopped, and the young woman recognized this as the cue to go back to the Mortal World. World hopping was dangerous, more so because she had needed to build up her Chi for an entire week just to begin the process, since most of it had dissipated during her very long nap. Sure, she got to see her spirit guide, Mika, and she could enjoy the beauty of the Spirit World and the wondrous sights of those who lived there, but she always put her body at risk whenever she did so. The Avatar simply sent his spirit out and left his body behind in the relative safety of the Mortal World. The Persona sent her entire self out, leaving only a fragile tether to connect her to where she belonged.

“Thank you, Mika. I hope we meet again under less strange circumstances,” Shen murmured, patting the feathered neck of her spirit guide and dismounting. Mika was a Waruku, a rare bird about the size of an ostrich-horse with varied colors, except that she couldn't decide which color to be. Sometimes she was the light blue of right now. Other times, she was a bright mint green. Shen didn't really know why, and Mika wasn't talking.

The Waruku warbled happily in reply before turning and leaving, disappearing into the high waves of turquoise grass around them. The young Persona sighed, then folded the middle and ring fingers of her right hand against her palm and prayed. The world around her shifted, changing from a warm grassland to frigid ice and snow. Shen had arrived in the south pole.

She carefully began piling snow up into a makeshift shelter, protecting her hands in the folds of her thick sleeves, and when it was packed in tightly, she crawled inside to curl up in the surprising warmth. What she wouldn't give to be a firebender right then. Or to have one near her, like Tella.

Slowly, the realization of what this meant to her hit Shen. Everyone she knew was gone. Her father was gone. Her sister and brother were gone. Master Taka was gone. Mistress Raph was gone. Master Quan was gone. Tella was gone. Paru and Poru were gone. Even Kirin was gone... Her home was in ruins, wiped out a hundred years ago, and she hadn't been able to save it.

As Shen curled up in her little shelter, she let a few tears fall from her eyes, just before wiping them dry. Now wasn't the time to be sentimental. She had to find her partner and do her duty, no matter how much she didn't want it. The whole world was depending on her and some airbender boy she didn't know.

The young woman bit back a harsh laugh. Well, looks like the world was pretty much doomed, then, if it needed some missing guy and a very reluctant Persona to help it.

She sighed again, breathing the warm air against her hands, and squirmed back out onto the open ice. Well, she might as well have somewhere to live while she searched for the Avatar. Didn't the South Pole have a Water Tribe there?

 


	2. Fated Meeting

_**Five months, two weeks, six days, nine hours, eight minutes, and fifty-three seconds later...** _

Shen woke up with a start, thinking she was back in the Chi Temple's large forest and had been camping out for one of Mistress Jisan's ludicrous Chi exercises. The cold told her otherwise and reminded her of the truth. She was hiding out in the South Pole, hiding from the Fire Nation and hoping to build up her powers enough to go searching for the Avatar.

'Oh, thank the four Spirit Mentors. I'm nowhere near Hot Shot,' the young woman thought gratefully, just before she mentally scolded herself for such a thought, then winced. She was supposed to lighten up now, since she was now living one hundred years in the future. No one, not even Katara and Sokka, knew that she was the Persona, and she preferred to keep it that way. When Katara had told Shen about the past century, how both the Avatar and the Persona had gone missing and the Fire Nation had begun the war that took her mother and caused the men of the village to leave, she didn't have the heart to tell her that, while she was the Persona, she had absolutely no idea where her Avatar counterpart was, or even if he was still alive. Master Taka had made finding him a bit difficult when he sealed most of her powers away.

“Shen? Are you up yet?” The voice of her waterbender friend jolted her back from the ominous turn her thoughts had taken, and Shen looked at the tent flap.

“Uh, yeah, I'm up, Katara. Just give me a few moments, please,” she replied, looking around for the blue clothing she had been given upon her arrival and permission to stay.

“Okay. Sokka and I are going fishing soon, so be ready by then,” the Water Tribe girl called into the tent. When she found her clothes, the young Persona pulled them on, tying the sash around her waist and making sure everything was secure on her, and then glanced at the whalebone chest that held her Persona clothing, with her sword lying behind it in its sheath. Shen had refused to answer any questions regarding those, simply saying that she needed to hide who she was from the Fire Nation and begging for their help. Now she was mostly accepted by the Southern Water Tribe, which was partly because of her obvious Water Tribe heritage, and partly because the people remaining had taken pity on the poor teenage girl.

Shen scrambled out of the tent a few minutes later, ready to go fishing with the two children of Chief Hakoda. She had never met the man, much less heard of him, but Gran-Gran had assured her that, if he were here, he would have welcomed her into the tribe with open arms. Any enemy of the Fire Nation was a friend of theirs, the old woman had said, just before handing her some new, more suitable clothing for the frigid climate.

“There you are! We're gonna go get some breakfast. You wanna come with?” Sokka exclaimed when she emerged, coming up to her with his spear at the ready. The young woman nodded once and looked out at the rising sun. This would probably be one of the last looks she got at it, since winter was coming; she wanted to savor the heat a little longer before she had to brace herself for the long nights.

“Good. Katara'll meet us by the boat, so just go wait there while I grab a few things,” the young man said, patting her shoulder briskly before jogging off. Shen watched him go wistfully, then went to the canoe to wait for them. It was nice having Sokka and Katara treat her as family. In truth, she was closer to them and Gran-Gran than she was to her own siblings and father. Well, had been, anyways. Risha, Dailan, and Father, they were all dead now, or very, very old. That's what happens when you get stuck in a magic crystal and sleep for a hundred years. But now she could start over, with Katara and Sokka as her new big brother and sister, and Gran-Gran as the grandmother she never got to have. Yes, a new beginning, without having to worry about being the Persona. There was no use in revealing what she was, seeing as the Avatar was still missing, and she was essentially powerless.

* * *

Shen sat in the middle of the canoe, watching the depths below for some sign that there were fish nearby that hadn't been scared off or gone in search of warmer waters. Sokka was at the front, holding his spear at the ready, while Katara was behind her, staring listlessly at the ocean and icebergs surrounding them. All three were silent.

Finally, the Water Tribe boy let out a soft cry of delight and bent over the side of the canoe, having caught sight of a fish.

“It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara, Shen. This is how you catch a fish,” he murmured, making the half-Water Tribe girl smirk slightly. Not much, just enough to make Katara giggle quietly behind one glove. The two girls looked over the other side and caught sight of another fish. Quietly, the younger girl motioned for her friend to do her thing, and Katara uncertainly removed her left glove. She took a deep breath, glanced back at the fish apprehensively, and started waving her hand from side to side. Shen grinned widely, showing more emotion than normal, when a globule of water rose up, bearing the fish with it.

Katara watched with excitement at what she was able to do.

“Sokka, look!” she cried out happily, almost losing control of the ball of water for a moment. Her brother used his free hand to shush her.

“Shhh, Katara, you're gonna scare it away. Mmmm... I can already smell it cookin'!” Sokka replied at a whisper, licking his lips in anticipation. Shen shook her head. This guy almost always thought about food.

She snorted softly. Men. Mistress Raph had been right when she said that the quickest way to their hearts was through their stomachs.

“But, Sokka! I caught one!” Katara said nervously, her captured fish's globe beginning to shake as she moved it, struggling to keep her bending under control. Shen looked up just as Sokka raised his spear to kill his own fish, popping the bubble of water with the butt of his weapon. The sphere broke, freeing the fish to swim in the sea again and soaking poor Sokka – Shen had ducked out of the way just in time to get only a few droplets on her coat.

“Hey!” the older girl protested against the thwarting of her waterbending, and her brother turned to glare at her in frustration, letting out an exasperated groan.

“Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?” he grumbled. The older of the two girls rolled her eyes, and the younger folded her arms over her belly.

“It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's-” Katara began.

“Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah,” Sokka cut her off. “Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself.”

“You're calling me weird?” she replied with an amused grin. “I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water.”

The Water Tribe boy, who had been admiring his biceps in the water below, twisted around to give his sister a dirty look. Shen giggled, then quieted down. She also had “weird powers,” and she was hiding them from the others.

'I guess that makes me weird, too,' she thought resignedly. At least her powers were limited right now. Master Taka had seen to that.

A bump shook the boat and nearly dislodged the three of them, and they all looked up to see they had floated into a part of the ocean filled with icebergs. All three screamed in terror.

“Watch out! Go left, go left!” Katara shouted at Sokka and Shen, who wielded the oars for the canoe and were now frantically avoiding the chunks of ice packed around them. The two barely managed to thread their way out of certain death-by-ice-crushing-them-to-goop, but eventually their luck ran out when several icebergs started converging directly ahead of them. The three prepared to jump, leaping out of the canoe right when the icebergs collided and smashed their boat. Shen panted slightly and looked around, realizing they had absolutely no way back to the village. They were stranded on an iceberg in the middle of the ocean, completely at the mercy of the fickle currents.

“You call that left?” Katara said, also gasping for breath. The younger girl shot her a brief glare, then stopped when she saw the Water Tribe girl was looking at her brother.

“You don't like my steering? Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice,” Sokka replied bitterly. Shen sighed at the thought of yet another sibling fight and looked behind them, noticing a huge iceberg right behind them. It loomed over them ominously, reminding her of what her father had done whenever he was scolding her, before she was sent to the Chi Temple.

“So it's my fault?” his sister shot back. Sokka groaned.

“I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up,” he muttered. The younger of the girls shot him a hurt look.

“What's that supposed to mean?” she asked irritably. He waved at her, brushing her comment to the side.

“You don't count, Shen. You're more boyish than girly, anyways,” he replied nonchalantly. Shen rolled her eyes. Of course. That explained _so_ much. His statement wasn't lost on Katara, who began to get _really_ angry. More so than her brother usually made her.

“You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained...” Katara steamed, jabbing one finger at the young man. As she vented her anger on her brother, the water beneath their icy raft began heaving and lifting, and with every backwards swing of her arms, the gigantic iceberg cracked, pieces falling off into the water.

“Ugh, I”m embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!”

Sokka and Shen glanced behind her at the sound of splashing and shared a nervous look. This was really not good. Her brother looked up at her furious face and said, “Uh... Katara?”

The young waterbender continued on, ignoring him. “I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT! The only other person who even bothers to help is Shen, and she's been here for only half a year!”

This time, Shen was the one to try and get her attention, mainly so she could calm down before something very bad happened. “Katara! Please, settle down!”

“No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!” Katara screamed, this time throwing both arms backwards violently. The motion caused the iceberg, which had already taken a lot of damage, to split apart and drop several pieces into the ocean, creating waves that forced their iceberg away. The three held on tightly to Sokka's spear – which had been jammed into the ice shortly beforehand – praying to the spirits that no one would be washed overboard, and, when it settled, relaxed a little.

“Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara,” Sokka said, still a little stunned. His sister looked at where the iceberg had been with surprise. “You mean _I_ did that?”

Shen nodded. “Yup. Congratulations, Katara. You're a real waterbender.” The faint sarcasm was something they were now used to, once the young woman had gotten used to them and become their friend, and it assured them that she was okay, if she was able to make such dry remarks.

The three kids looked over the edge, leaning against the ice. When the water began glowing bright blue, Shen simply sighed and leaned back, getting away from whatever this thing was. Today was just going to be a fun one.

The source of the blue light soon rose up, a strangely spherical iceberg that radiated with the eerie azure light, and with it came a few small pieces of ice that bobbed between their ice raft and the iceberg of mystery.

Katara stood up warily, going right to the edge of their own chunk of ice to look more closely. Shen did the same, putting a hand on the older girl's shoulder to steady herself, and peered at it. Deep within, she could just barely make out what looked like a person, a boy sitting in a meditation pose with glowing arrows on what were probably the backs of his clenched hands and on his head. Something seemed oddly familiar, and she stiffened when she remembered why. Zuko and Iroh had told her she had been in a similar position when they found her inside the crystal. And those markings... they reminded her of the tattoos some of the airbenders at the Western Air Temple had on their skin when Master Taka took her for a visit to the neighboring temple.

Could it be?

The boy's eyes flashed open inside the ice, also glowing as white as the arrows on his body. Katara gasped, as did Shen.

“He's alive! We have to help,” the older girl said firmly, snatching Sokka's spear from the ice, yanking her hood down, and turning back to the boy. Sokka looked at her in shock.

“Katara! Get back here! We don't know what that thing is!” he called, but his sister ignored him and hopped across the convenient “stepping stones” the smaller pieces of ice had made. Shen pulled down her own hood, making sure it hid her hair, and jumped across to join her in freeing the boy. Sokka groaned again, then stood up and followed the two girls.

By now, Katara had reached the rounded part of the berg and put a hand to it, testing for the right place to strike. She settled on one part near the bottom and began thwacking the ice with her brother's weapon, cracking it each time. One final hit broke the ice, the escaping air from the hollow center hissing as it was released, and that was when things got weird. Shen felt a great surge of Chi around her, more so than normal, as a shaft of blue-white light rocketed towards the sky and Sokka shielded the two girls from the blast of air and ice crystals.

 


	3. Aang

When things calmed down a bit more, Shen looked over Sokka's shoulder at the remnants of the ice bubble and gaped. Light still spiraled around the tip of the berg, the residue of a vast overflow of Chi given tangible form, and it scared her. Was it possible? Was the boy in the iceberg really the Avatar?

As if on cue, he appeared over the edge of the bubble's shell, eyes and arrows aglow. Sokka pointed his spear at him and ordered him to stop; the boy simply stood up, then – as both his glow and the Chi above him faded – fell into a dead faint. He tumbled down the iceberg's ruins toward the three, and they all lunged to catch him before what could have been a very rough landing.

Sokka decided that the best thing to do would be to poke him in the head with his spear, and did so – thankfully, using the blunt, nonlethal end only. His sister shot him an upset look.

“Stop it!” Katara shouted, hitting him away and facing the boy again. The young Water Tribe girl carefully flipped him onto his back, and Shen examined him a bit more closely. Well, from what her very limited Persona senses could detect, he was still alive, and he was nearly brimming with Chi. Even _she_ hadn't had that much when she woke up. Then again, the Avatar probably hadn't had most of his powers taken away from him.

Shen wasn't entirely sure what made her so certain this kid was the Avatar. Maybe it was that connection thing Master Taka and all the other Chi Masters had told her about as she trained to be the Persona, the same one Hot Shot had mentioned when he was trying to get her to reveal her counterpart's location. Maybe it was just that he looked like an airbender, he wore the clothes of one, he even had the tattoos of one, and that everyone she met had told her the Air Nomads had gone missing a hundred years ago. Maybe it was the amount of Chi in his young body. Whatever the reason, she knew this little boy was the Avatar. He had been sleeping for the past hundred years, just like her.

Talk about a coincidence.

The boy stirred, catching their collective attention, and when his eyes opened, the first thing he saw was Katara. Shen backed up a little when she heard the barely audible gasp from the kid as a faint breeze suddenly picked up and made her friend's hair wave. This was between those two right now, not her.

“I need to ask you something,” he murmured faintly, his voice weakened by his very, very long sleep. Something gave the half-Water Tribe girl a bad feeling, and she gently pulled Sokka away. Whatever was about to happen was between Mister Avatar and Katara, and they did not need the two of them around to screw things up.

“What?” Katara said curiously. The kid looked at her with somewhat sleepy eyes, whispering, “Please... come closer.”

“What is it?”

Almost instantaneously, the boy's entire demeanor changed from feeble and pathetic to excited and eager.

“Will you go penguin sledding with me?”

Shen nearly fell over when she heard his request. Okay, she had not been expecting that. Least of all from her counterpart.

Then again, he _was_ just a kid.

“Uh... sure. I guess,” the young waterbender replied, just as nonplussed as her friend and brother.

The boy righted himself with what looked like a short blast of air, confirming Shen's theory that he was the Avatar. There was no other way an airbender could have survived in a giant iceberg that had somehow managed to form a perfect sphere – until it was destroyed, but who cares about that? Of course, his action made Sokka scream in surprise, which was always a good thing, since it made Shen snicker quietly.

“What's going on here?” the boy asked curiously, looking around and glancing over Shen and Sokka as he did so. The Water Tribe boy eyed him suspiciously. “You tell us! How'd you get in the ice?”

He poked Aang with his spear. “And why aren't you frozen?” The airbender boy absentmindedly brushed it away, still looking around bemusedly.

“I'm not sure.”

Shen sighed. So she wasn't the only one to be mysteriously stuck in something for a hundred years, with very little memory of how it happened. That was just great. Well, since it was unlikely a waterbender had just magically decided to freeze this kid, and he also had the power of the Avatar, it was probably that part of him that was the culprit. The same could not be said of her, but then again, what could be? The Avatar and the Persona were meant to be complementary and opposing, one representing the physical world and the four elements, the other representing the spiritual world and the four Chis of the universe. Of course they would have different ways of sleeping through the past century.

The kid gasped when they all heard a low, rumbling growl from the other side of the iceberg, scrambled up the lip of what remained of his ice bubble, and jumped off. He said what sounded like a name and began shouting for its owner to wake up and asking if it was okay. Wait, so he hadn't been alone in that iceberg?

Shen, Katara, and Sokka all ran around to follow him, discovering that the iceberg now had a crater of sorts in it, and taking up most of the indentation was a huge, furry animal. It had six legs, large, curving horns, and creamy fur with tan markings reminiscent of the boy's tattoos. The Persona among them gasped quietly. A sky bison! She had seen a few during the trips with Master Taka to the Western Air Temple, when he was visiting Kirin's mother, an Air Nomad, and had taken both her and the young man along. So what if he had been a chibender that controlled earth Chi and she had been an airbender? The two had loved each other very much; their son, Kirin, was proof of that. But Shen had thought all the sky bison had been wiped out with the temples. To see one more before her was heartening.

The half-Tribe girl didn't bother looking at her friends' faces; she knew they would be shocked. It wasn't every day you saw a sky bison in the South Pole, after all. The bison's mouth opened, revealing huge molars and a giant tongue that came out to lick the boy, making him giggle and say, “You're okay!”

As the sky bison rose and shook himself, dislodging some snow and ice that had gotten on him, Sokka shakily pointed a finger at it. “What is that thing?”

The boy grinned. “This is Appa, my flying bison.”

“Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister, and Shen, our flying friend.”

That was when the boy Shen was pretty positive was the Avatar got a good look at her, and she shuddered at the feeling. It was like being shocked by lightning, the strange feeling that a connection had formed when they really saw each other.

She didn't like it one bit.

The kid also seemed a bit discomforted when he saw her, and Shen knew he had also felt the jolt of their connection forming. He was about to say something, watching her curiously, when Appa took a deep breath and sneezed. He avoided the blast, but Sokka wasn't so lucky – he was now covered in green goop that made Shen feel both amused and disgusted. Fortunately, she had moved far enough away that no snot touched her. She had always been pretty lucky.

Sokka screamed in disgust and dropped to the ground, rolling around in the snow to get the green gook off. The boy noticed and commented, “Don't worry. It'll wash out.” The Water Tribe boy groaned, and Shen smirked again.

“So, do you guys live around here?” he asked, glancing at them.

“Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy,” Katara's brother interjected suddenly, pulling Katara and Shen away from the boy.

“Oh, yeah. I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye,” Katara replied drily. Shen smirked, adding, “Look at how evil it is. I'm shaking in my boots.”

The boy's face was entirely innocent, with just a normal smile on it. She could tell he was curious about her, but also very interested in Katara. After all, who just asks someone to go penguin sledding with them?

The Avatar, apparently.

“The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka, and the smartaleck is Shen. You never told us your name,” Katara pried gently. Shen could admit she was curious about knowing her partner's name, but she probably would have been very, very formal about finding out. That was how she had been raised.

“I'm...” the boy began, but he started to inhale for a sneeze. The half-Tribe girl backed away slightly. She had seen a few of the kids in the Western Air Temple be like this just before something air-related happened, and she knew how to avoid it.

“AAAAAAACHOOOO!”

The Avatar shot into the air, having directed his sneeze downwards, and the three watched. Sokka did it with suspicious shock, Katara did it with surprised amazement, and Shen did it with passive disinterest. Hey, you've seen one sky-high sneeze, you've seen 'em all.

“I'm Aang,” he introduced himself, sniffling and rubbing his nose carelessly.

“You just sneezed... and flew ten feet in the air,” Sokka said incredulously. Shen rolled her eyes. It definitely had been higher than that.

“Really? It felt higher than that.” See? Even the kid who did it thought it was higher. Katara gasped, though Shen doubted it was because he thought it was higher. “You're an airbender!”

“Sure am,” Aang replied. This seemed to be the last straw for poor Sokka.

“Giant light beams... flying bison... airbenders... I think I've got Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense,” he muttered, turning to leave. The Water Tribe boy was stopped barely a step away, since the ice ended at about that distance. All around them were ocean, no ice close enough to jump onto since the blast of Chi had forced them all away.

“Good luck with that,” Shen commented drily, folding her arms against her stomach.

“Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift,” Aang offered, airbending himself up onto the sky bison's head and then onto the giant saddle. Shen sighed. She didn't really like flying, even if it had been one of the few ways to actually get to the Western Air Temple to visit Master Taka's wife. The young woman preferred to keep her feet on the ground, since that was one of the few ways she could actually use earth Chi. Except, of course, for the fact that most of the “ground” in the South Pole was either ice or land located beneath several feet of ice.

“We'd love a ride! Thanks!” Katara replied, climbing up into the saddle. Shen sighed and followed, sitting on the side, near the edge, while Katara sat in the back.

“Oh, no... I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster,” Sokka refused. From the corner of her eye, she could see Katara smirk. “Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know... before you freeze to death?”

Sokka opened his mouth to retort, but gave up when the younger of the two girls beckoned for him to join them.

“Just get on the bison,” she groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. He sighed and climbed up, joining Katara in the back and folding his arms in front of him. She seemed excited to be on a flying bison, while her brother was just scowling at them.

“Be careful, Sokka. In this weather, your face just might freeze like that,” Shen uttered grimly, pointing a gloved finger at him. He stuck his tongue out at her and went back to being his typical grumpy self.

“Okay. First time fliers, hold on tight! Appa, yip yip!” Aang called back to them, flicking the reins. Appa let out a low rumble and walked toward the edge of the berg. He flapped his huge, flat tail and leaped into the air, hovering for a few brief moments before crashing down into the water with his legs splayed apart. The splash was huge, nearly jolting Shen from her seat.

Appa began swimming forward, much to Aang's chagrin. He flicked the reins again. “Come on, Appa. Yip yip.”

“Wow. That was truly amazing,” Sokka snarked. The airbender turned back to look at them. “Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see.”

When he said “soaring through the sky,” he made a motion with his hand to illustrate his point, and Shen smiled wistfully. The kids at the temple had been like that, too, expressive with their hands and general optimists.

She noticed Aang was still staring back at them, a wide smile on his face, and turned her head to see what he was looking at. Naturally, it was Katara. The girl smirked and folded her arms, waiting to see what would happen.

“Why are you smiling at me like that?” the waterbender asked, having noticed Aang's grin. He blinked bemusedly. “Oh... I was smiling?”

Sokka groaned in disgust and Shen's smirk widened. So the Avatar had a crush on Katara, did he? Interesting... Very interesting...

* * *

Night had fallen, with Sokka fast asleep in the back, Katara sitting beside him, Aang lying back on Appa's head, and Shen dozing against the side of the saddle. She jerked back to wakefulness when she felt Katara crawl to the front of the saddle and listened silently to her speak with Aang.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Whatcha thinkin' about?”

“I guess I was wondering – your being an airbender and all – if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar, or even the Persona.”

There was a pause before Aang answered.

“Uh... no. I didn't know him... I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I didn't. And I haven't heard much about the Persona, either. Sorry.”

“Okay. Just curious. Good night.”

“Sleep tight.”

Shen slowed her breathing when she realized Katara was heading back to her spot near Sokka, then began thinking about what she had just overheard. She knew Aang was the Avatar – both the Chi inside him and that connection that formed earlier was proof, as well as his airbender status – but he was keeping it a secret, just like she was hiding her identity as the Persona from the Water Tribe siblings. Maybe he was just as reluctant as she to be what the world needed.

The young chibender rolled onto her side, turning her face towards the rim of the saddle. Why would Aang hide his identity from them? She had good reason – having her powers sealed away meant that, as a Persona, she wasn't very helpful just yet – but, as far as she knew, the Avatar wasn't like that. What was he hiding?

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope the canon characters weren't OOC in this chapter, and I hope Shen doesn't seem to be too OP or a Mary Sue.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope to hear from you guys, and I'll try to update pretty regularly, but I don't have regular internet, so please, bear with me. I hope that's okay.
> 
> I hope a lot of things.
> 
> See ya later! Wild_Cat_214, out!


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